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James R. Rasband

Jim Rasband is the Hugh W. Colton Professor of Law and was appointed as the Academic Vice President on June 1, 2017. From 2009 to 2016, Rasband served as dean of the BYU law school. Before becoming dean, he served as the associate academic vice president for faculty at BYU, and as the associate dean for Research and Academic Affairs at the Law School.

Rasband joined the law school faculty in 1995. Prior to entering academia, he served as a law clerk to Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and practiced law at Perkins Coie in Seattle, Washington, where his practice focused on Indian treaty litigation.

His research and teaching has centered on public land and natural resources law and policy. He has published many articles and book chapters on these subjects and is coauthor of an important casebook in the field. He has also taught as a visiting professor at Murdoch University School of Law in Perth, Australia, and as a visiting fellow at T. C. Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.

Rasband received his undergraduate degree in English and Near Eastern studies from BYU. He went on to receive his juris doctorate from Harvard University.

Rasband is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a Trustee and former Board member of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, an organization of legal academics and practitioners devoted to education on natural resource law topics.